smith



(No Model.)

D. L. SMITH.

BUCKLE. No. 378,733. Patented Feb. 28, 1888.

rrnn STAT S PATENT DWIGHT L. SMITH, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONEHALF TO EARL A. SMITH, OF SAME PLACE.

BUCKLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,733, dated February 28, 1888.

Application filed January 9, 1888. Serial No. 260,207. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: 7 Be it known that I, Dwrenr L. SMITH, of Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Buckles; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which K: said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a front View of the buckle complete; Fig. 2, a rear view of the same,portion of the bearing-plate broken away to show the r 5 hingebar, jaw plate, and lever; Fig. 3, a vertical central section; Fig. 4, a horizontal section showing a top view of the jaw-plate and the bends in which the hinge-bar is secured; Fig. 5, the frame detached; Fig. 6, the blank from which the bearing-plate is made; Fig. 7, the blank from which the jaw-plate is made; Fig. 8, the wire lever detached.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of buckles for garments specially 2 adapted for suspenders, and in which the frame is made from wire and provided with a bearing-plate, combined with a lever hinged to the frame and carrying a jaw adapted to impinge against said plate and so as to grasp the strap between said jaw and plate; and the invention consists in the construction, as hereinafter described, and particularly recited in the claim.

A represents the lower side of the frame, andBthe upper side; C C, the two ends. The frame is best made in a single piece of wire and its two ends joined in any known or suitable ma'nner. At corresponding points in the two ends a short inward bend, a, is formed, as 40 seen in Fig. 5, the extent of the bend corresponding substantially to the diameter of the wire.

D represents the hinging-bar, made from wire, its two ends closed around the respective 5 ends of the frame and in the bends a, as seen in Fig. 4, so as to permanently secure the said bar D in the frame.

E represents the bearing-plate, which is made from sheet metal, as seen in Fig. 6. Its

two ends terminate each in two ears, 6 b. The ends of the frame are bent, as seen in Fig. 5, and the ears closed around the respective ends of the frame, the ears passing above and below the bends a, as seen in Fig. 1, and so that the bearing-plate stands in a plane parallel 5 with the plane of the frame, but distant therefrom.

The lever is made from a single piece of wire, as represented in Fig. 8. It is doubled at the ceuterto form the tip of the hook F. Its two branches, G H, running to the right and left, terminate in upward projections d d.

I represents the jaw plate, which is cut from sheet metal, as seen in Fig. 7, and at each end is constructed with longitudinally- 6 projecting ears e, and upon its jaw side with laterally -projecting ears f f, and it is also constructed with an extension, J, to form the spring-tongue for the hook. The upper edge of the jaw-plate may be serrated, as seen in Fig. 7. That edge is bent at substantially right angles to the plane of the plate to form the jaw g. The said jaw-plate is secured to the lever by closing the ears 6 around the ends (Z of the lever, as seen in Fig. 2, and the cars 7 f are closed around the hinge-bar D, as also seen in Fig. 2, and so as to leave the lever with its jaw-plate free to swing on the said hingebar, as represented in broken lines, Fig. 3.

The jaw g impinges substantially upon the bearing-plate E, as seen in-Fig. 3, but so that when turned therefrom, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 3, the strap may be introduced between the jaw and bearing-plate. Then the jaw closed thereon will secure the strap. The spring-tongue J extends down to the tip of the hook, in the usual manner for this class of buckles.

I claim The combination, in a buckle, of a frame 0 made from wire bent to form the two sides A B and two ends, C C, thesaid two ends constructed with a corresponding inward bend, a, the hinge-bar D,made from wire, its two ends closed around in the bends a a, the bearing- 5 plate E, made from sheet metal, its two ends closed around the respective ends of the frame, the said plate being in a plane parallel with but distant from the plane of the frame, a leturned toward the bearing-plate andadapted ver made from wire bent to formthe attachto impinge thereon, substantially as described.

ing-hook its tfi o branches terminating in the upward projections d d, with a jaw-plate, I, DWIGHT SMITH 5 made fromsheet metal, secured to the said 10- \Vitnesses:

ver,and constructed with ears f f, closed upon H. L. SLAUSON,

the hinge-bar D, the edge of the jaw-plate JAMEs STOVE L. 

